SPINTRONICS

1
 What is an electron ?
✔ Particle with negative

electric charge , q = -e

✔ Spin =±(1/2) magnetic

moment , m = µB

2
 What is Spintronics?
This refers to the study of :
Role played by electron
spin in solid state physics.
Possible devices that
specifically exploit spin
properties instead of or in
addition to charge.
3
 ELECTRONICS Vs SPINTRONICS

4
5
6
 Basic Principle:
In Spintronics , information is carried by orientation of
spin rather than charge.
Spin can assume one of the two states relative to the magnetic
field, called spin up or spin down.
These states, spin up or spin down, can be used to represent
‘1’ and ‘0’ in binary logic.
In certain Spintronics materials, spin orientation can be used
as Spintronics memory as these orientation do not change
when system is switched off.

7
 MOORE’S LAW: It states that the number of transistors on
a silicon chip will roughly double every eighteen months.

8
 Why do we need Spintronics??
Failure of Moore’s Law :
Now a days, the transistors & other components have reached
nanoscale dimensions and further reducing the size would lead
to:
1. Scorching heat making the circuit inoperable.
2. Also Quantum effects come into play at nanoscale
dimensions.
So the size of transistors & other components cannot be
reduced further.
9
POWER DISSIPATION=GREATEST OBSTACLE FOR
MOORE’S LAW !
Modern processor chips consume ~100 W of power of
which about 20% is wasted in leakage through the
transistor gates.
 Phases in Spintronics
Spin injection

Spin manipulation

Spin detection

11
 Spin Injection
It is the transport of (or creating a) non-equilibrium
spin population across interface
✔ Using a ferromagnetic electrode

✔ Effective fields caused by spin-orbit interaction.

✔ Tunnel barrier could be used to effectively inject spins into a

semiconductor

✔ Tunneling spin injection via Schottky barrier

✔ By “hot” electrons

12
 Spin Manipulation

To control electron spin to realize desired physical operation

efficiently by means of external fields

Mechanism for spin transfer implies a spin filtering process.

Spin filtering means that incoming electrons with spin

components perpendicular to the magnetic moment in the
ferromagnet are being filtered out.

Spin-polarized current can transfer the angular momentum

from carriers to a ferromagnet where it can change the
direction of magnetization This effect is equivalent to a spin
transfer torque.

13
 Spin Transfer Torque

v v

The spin of the

conduction electron
is rotated by its
interaction with the
magnetization.

This implies the magnetization exerts a torque on the spin. By

Conservation of angular momentum, the spin exerts an equal
and Opposite torque on the magnetization.

14
 Spin Detection Technique

An ultrasensitive silicon
cantilever with a SmCo
magnetic tip positioned
125nm above a silica
specimen containing a low
density of unpaired
electron spins.

15
 Materials of Spintronics
• Currently used materials in conventional electronics are
usually non-magnetic and only charges are controllable.

• Existing metal-based devices do not amplify signals.

• Whereas semiconductor based spintronic devices could in

principle provide amplification and serve, in general, as
multi-functional devices.

• All the available ferromagnetic semiconductor materials that

can be used as spin injectors preserve their properties only
far below room temperature, because their Curie
temperatures (TC) are low.

16
 ADVANTAGES OF SPINTRONICS
•Non-volatile memory
•Performance improves with smaller devices
•Low power consumption
•Spintronics does not require unique and specialized semiconductors
•Dissipation less transmission
•Switching time is very less
•Compared to normal RAM chips, spintronic RAM chips will:
– increase storage densities by a factor of three
– have faster switching and rewritability rates smaller
•Promises a greater integration between the logic and storage devices

17
 Giant magneto resistance (GMR)
The basic GMR device consists of a layer of non -magnetic metal
between two magnetic layers.
A current consisting of spin-up and spin-down electrons is passed
through the layers.
Those oriented in the same direction as the electron spins in a
magnetic layer pass through quite easily while those oriented in the
opposite direction are scattered.

19
 Concept of the Giant Magneto resistance (GMR)
1) Iron layers with opposite magnetizations : spin up and spin
down are stopped → no current (actually small current only)
HIGH RESISTANCE

2) If a magnetic field aligns the magnetizations: spins go

through LOW RESISTANCE

20
 Parallel and Perpendicular Currents
Parallel Current GMR:
• Current runs parallel between the
ferromagnetic layers
• Most commonly used in magnetic read
heads
• Has shown 200% resistance difference
between zero point and antiparallel states
Perpendicular Current GMR:
• Easier to understand theoretically, think of
one FM layer as spin polarizer and other as
detector
• Has shown 70% resistance difference
between zero point and antiparallel states
• Basis for Tunneling MagnetoResistance

21
 Types of GMR:
1) Multilayer GMR
Two or more ferromagnetic layers are
separated by a very thin non-ferromagnetic
spacer (e.g. Fe/Cr/Fe). The GMR effect was first
observed in the multilayer configuration.
2) Granular GMR
Granular GMR is an effect that occurs in
solid precipitates of a magnetic material in a
non-magnetic matrix. Granule sizes vary
depending on the cooling rate and amount of
subsequent annealing. Granular GMR materials
have not been able to produce the high GMR
ratios found in the multilayer counterparts.

22
3) Spin Valves
If the orientation of one of the magnetic
layers be changed then the device will
act as a filter, or ‘spin valve’, letting
through more electrons when the spin
orientations in the two layers are the
same and fewer when orientations are
oppositely aligned.
The electrical resistance of the device
can therefore be changed dramatically.

23
Applications of GMR:

1)Magnetoresistive Random Access

Memory:
Magnetoresistive Random Access
Memory (MRAM) is a non-volatile
computer memory (NVRAM)
technology, which has been under
development since the 1990s.
Continued increases in density of
existing memory technologies,
notably Flash RAM and DRAM kept
MRAM in a niche role in the market,
but its proponents believe that the
advantages are so overwhelming
that MRAM will eventually become
dominant.

24
 2)HARD DISK:
These devices are a hybrid of a hard disk
and more up to date types of memory,
such as flash memory, commonly used in
digital cameras. Like flash, MRAM has no
moving parts and retains all of its data
even when the power is switched off. But,
like a hard drive, it stores data as
magnetic charges.
3)Quantum computer:
With quantum computing you are able
to attack some problems on the time
scales of seconds, which might take an
almost infinite amount of time with
classical computers.

25
 4) RACE TRACK MEMORY:
A device that could increase
storage density by up to 100
times. It achieves this by building
"high-rise" chips". The racetrack is
a very tall column of magnetic
material. It is essentially a
magnetic nanowire standing on
end above the surface a silicon
wafer.

26
 Tunnel Magnetoresistance
Magnetic tunnel junction has two
magnetic layers separated by an insulating
metal-oxide layer.

Is similar to a GMR spin valve except that

a very thin insulator layer is sandwitched
between magnetic layers instead of metal
layer .

The difference in resistance between the

spin-aligned and nonaligned cases is much
greater than for GMR device.

27
28
 Magnetic Tunnel Junction
• A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) consists of two layers of
magnetic metal, such as cobalt-iron, separated by an
ultrathin layer of insulator.

Ferromagnetic
electrodes

• Tunnel Magnetoresistive effect combines the two spin

channels in the ferromagnetic materials and the quantum
tunnel effect

29
30
31
32
Applications of TMR:
Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory

33
 MRAM combines the best characteristics of Flash, SRAM and DRAM

34
 Journey of MRAM
Problems encountered:
• 1. The density of bits was low.
• 2. Cost of chips was high.
Improved designs to overcome these problems would work
only at liquid nitrogen temperature.
An important breakthrough was made in the year 2009.
Scientists at the North Carolina State University discovered a
semiconductor material ‘ Galium manganese nitride’ that
can store & retain spin orientation at room temperature.
And research is still going on…

35
 Spintronic Research and Applications

• GMR - Giant magnetoresistance - HDD read heads

• MTJ - Magnetic Tunnel Junction - HDD read heads+MRAM
• MRAM - Magnetic RAM - nonvolitile memory
• STT - Spin Transfer Torque - MRAM+oscillator

36
 Limitations
Problems that all the engineers and scientists may have to
overcome are:
• To devise economic ways to combine ferromagnetic metals and
semiconductors in integrated circuits.
• To find an efficient way to inject spin-polarized currents, or spin
currents, into a semiconductor.
• To create long relaxation time for effective spin manipulation.
• What happens to spin currents at boundaries between different
semiconductors?
• How long can a spin current retain its polarization in a
semiconductor?

37
 Future Demands
Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors on a silicon

chip will roughly double every eighteen months

By 2012, it is projected that the width of the electrodes in a

microprocessor will be 40nm across

As electronic devices become smaller, quantum properties of the

wavelike nature of electrons are no longer negligible

Spintronics devices offer the possibility of enhanced functionality,

higher speed, and reduced power consumption.

38
 REFERENCES
Nanomagnetism and Spintronics, by Teruya shinjo.
The Physics and Chemistry of nanisolids, by Frank
J.Owens, Charles P.Poole.
Introduction to Spintronics, by S.Bandyopadhyay,
M.Cahay.
Nobel lecture: Origin, development and future of
Spintronics, Reveiws of Modern Physics,Vol.80,
October-December 2008.

39